by Richard Wilcox
December, 2003
i. Cover page
ii. Index
1. Introduction
2. The U.S. imperial alliance system
2.1 Socio-political background
2.2 Economic genocide
2.3 Murdering the body politic
2.4 Building empire
2.5 Social impacts
2.6 Spreading like cancer
3. Environmental impacts: The case of Japan
3.1 Political background
3.2 Okinawa: ‘A great stationary aircraft carrier’
3.3 Depleted uranium
3.4 Ui Jun, fighter for environmental justice
3.5 No nukes!
3.6 Making noise
4. Environmental impacts in the U.S. and abroad
4.1 Toxic pollution
4.2 Undermining environmental protection laws
4.3 Depleted uranium
4.4 Undermining global security
4.5 Toward omnicide
5. Conclusion
6. References
1. Introduction
Everything worth saying about the American way of life I could put in thirty
pages. Topographically the country is magnificent and terrifying. Why
terrifying? Because nowhere else in the world is the divorce between man
and nature so complete…To call this a society of free peoples is
blasphemous. What have we to offer the world beside the superabundant
loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion
that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment?
– Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (Miller, 2003)
oderint dum metuant: Let them hate so long as they fear.
– Roman emperor, Caligula (Parry, 2003)
We will export death and violence to the four corners of the Earth in
defense of our great nation.
– U.S. President George W. Bush, post 9/11 (Pfaff, 2003)
This paper will employ the concept of militarism in the broadest sense. At the time of writing, the U.S. is not directly under military control and is nominally under civilian rule. However, extensive military operations are integral to the operations of empire, Pax Americana. Global instability refers to many areas in the social and natural worlds that are affected by the military empire. Environmental destruction will be treated as the major and culminating theme of this paper since without a thriving habitat, Homo sapiens will cease to exist.
2. The US imperial alliance system
The US imperial alliance system embodies the reign of terror, genocide, plunder, and destruction that began with Europe’s conquest of the world 500 year ago. The system consists of the United States at the hub of military and economic power. The
G7 nations fulfill the crucial role in the empire as the first tier countries supported by the lesser rich OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries at the second tier. Dictatorships in the Third World help to insure U.S. hegemony by crushing domestic opposition. The UN Security Council members of Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France now support Pax Americana to varying degrees. The military alliances of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Europe and AMPO (U.S.-Japan alliance) in East Asia are crucial to U.S. military expansionism. Other ruling class mechanisms include: the Bretton Woods institutions including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization; the Trilateral Commission; the Business Roundtable; the World Economic Forum, and numerous other rich men’s clubs. Elite lobbying groups play an increasingly powerful role in controlling the U.S. congress these days while an array of mega-corporations–whose assets tower over the collected wealth of most of the world’s countries–have a large role in constructing U.S. policies for their own benefit.
Continue reading at:
United States Militarism, Global Instability and Environmental Destruction
No comments:
Post a Comment